ALVA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING JULY 12, 2001

Alva Museum, 7:00 p.m.

Those present:  Sarah Gillim, Gus Perfetto, Lynn Fensterer, Mike Dove, Martin Call, Maria Pagan, Rosie Taylor, Rob Andrys, Jean Colvin.

MINUTES:  Gus Perfetto made the motion that the Minutes of the June 28 general meeting and the June 7 Board of Directors meeting be approved; Rob Andrys seconded; passed.

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Lynn Fensterer reported a balance of $324.85.  Dues collected were $20, making a balance of 344.85.  We have just received a generous donation of $500 from a person who wishes to remain anonymous.  We wish to thank this person for the generous support given to our group.  Jean Colvin made the motion that this report be accepted; Sarah Gillim seconded; passed.

ROBERTS RULES OF ORDER:  Lynn stated that we must run our meetings according to these rules so that we will be able to answer anyone who questions our procedures.  We must take the time to allow everyone to express his/her opinion during discussion of any motion that is made.  If there is not enough time for this, it can be tabled until the next meeting to give everyone an opportunity to study the situation.  All the officers should have a knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order.  Sarah requested help in keeping everything in order. 

CHARTER AND BY LAWS: The Board then reviewed, page by page, the Charter and By Laws of A Living Vision of Alva, Inc. (see Addendum) A physical address for this organization was recognized.  The Museum is allowing us to use their address, which is 21420 Pearl Street, Alva, Florida 33920.  It was decided not to recognize motions until all the changes were accepted.  Everyone expressed his appreciation for all the work done by Gus Perfetto in preparing the Charter and By Laws.  Gus will send a copy to Jean to revise, and she will email the revised copy to each Director to review.  Rob Andrys made the motion to have the Charter and By Laws revised and sent to the Directors; Lynn Fensterer seconded; passed.  Lynn will send to Jean the suggested wording on the section about how and when the Directors should be voted in. 

ALVA BORDERS:  We are going to vote on extending the borders to include north of the river over to SR 31 and up to the Charlotte County line.  Rob attended a meeting where the County Planning Board outlined their proposal based on transportation, growth management and population density to extend the Alva area west of SR 31 to the first road past Lee Civic Center.  We need someone from the Board to attend the next Planning Board meeting to find out what they plan to do.  We would prefer that the border stop at SR 31.  Lynn Fensterer will attend the meeting.  Sarah suggested looking at www.Leegov.com under the planning section.  It shows how all the communities are set up on the map. 

CONTRACT WITH COUNTY:  Sarah and Rob and Carol Cunningham will attend the meeting that we must have with Paul O’Connor of Lee Planning and Development to talk about what our contract with the county will be to be eligible to receive the money.

COMMITTEES:

Agriculture:  Nothing major has changed.

Fundraising:  Maria Pagan read the minutes of their last meeting.  July 27-28 is Clean Up Your Neighborhood time.  This is for trash only and the bags should be deposited at the first Adopt a Road sign going west on River Road just past the Alva school.

Labor Day Picnic is planned for September 1 at the Alva Community Park.  Donation of $6.00 per person for a plate of food.  Food to be cooked by the Alva Fire Department at their location and brought over to the Park.  Many games will be available; clowns, face-painting, etc.  The Committee voted on the logo to be put on the Tee shirts that will be for sale at the Picnic. 

Doris J. Bella presented the idea for a Welcome to Alva Directory—sort of a who’s who in Alva.  The committee members approved of the idea, but will allow Doris to do all the selling and signing of contracts with the businesses. She may speak to the Board about this idea.

It was proposed that we have a Barn Dance on November 10 with live entertainment. Rob Andrys suggested that, since the Caloosahatchee River Watch has its annual bike ride on November 18, perhaps we could schedule the Barn Dance for the same evening. This would provide cross advertising.  Lynda and Rob will get together about this idea. 

Next meeting of the Fundraising Committee will be at the Alva Diner at 7 p.m. on August 7.

Traffic/bikepaths/sidewalks:  Mike Dove reported that Mike Rippe of DOT would be interested in speaking at our next general meeting. Rt. 78 is a county road; SR 80 is a state road.  If he can attend, it was suggested to allow a half hour for his talk.  He can tell us how to go about requesting bike paths, sidewalks, etc.  Gary Grinnell is interested in providing sidewalks in Alva.  The committee has to ascertain the pedestrian oriented ways to decide where the sidewalks should be. They have to talk to the owners of the homes along the way to see if they will give an easement on their land if necessary.  We have to get this behind us before we can get into where the commercial areas are going to be in the future. 

Planning:  The Planning Committee will meet with the Sidewalks Committee on Thursday, August 2 at 7 p.m. at the home of Rob Andrys. 

MEETINGS:  The school has been secured for the July meeting.  A discussion was held regarding holding a meeting in August.  After discussion, Gus Perfetto made the motion that we hold a general meeting in August; Rosie Taylor seconded; passed.  At the August meeting, we will focus on fundraising to call attention to the Labor Day picnic.  Mike Dove sent in the notice about our meetings to the News Press.  Sarah reported that we can place a general notice stating that the town meetings are held on the 4^th Thursday of the month at the Alva Middle School and the Board meetings are held at the Alva Museum on the second Thursday of the month as a one-time notice. This would be satisfactory to the Lee Planning Board, and would save some money. 

BABCOCK RANCH:  Sarah and Jim English, individually, met with the owners of Babcock Ranch.  They have approached the state about selling some of their land for conservation in return for allowing land use changes on the 20,000 acres they want to develop north of North River Road at the corner of SR 31 up to the Charlotte County line and east into Alva. About 6000 acres, more or less, are in Lee County and 2/3 of it is in Charlotte County. Density is presently one unit per 10 acres, so a maximum of 2000 units could be built.  They want to change this to one unit per acre, which would allow for cluster development with 20,000 units.  This means introducing 50,000 more people to the area. The Lee Planning Committee does not know about their plans.  We must keep on our toes to make sure this land use change does not come about. It is not something that will happen overnight. Jim English is of the opinion that we may have to hire an attorney to prevent this change. We have to investigate and come up with valid reasons and scientific evidence why this change would not be beneficial to this area, and we should be doing this now. We should check with the South Florida Management District about how this development would impact the water system.  We have to check often to find out when the Planning Committee meets.  Sarah mentioned checking with Lee Cares as they keep everything up to date.

The financial disclosure forms were given out to the Directors present.

The meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean W. Colvin, Acting Secretary

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Addendum to Minutes: Revisions to Charter and By Laws:

Page 1:  after (ALVA Inc.) add:  a not for profit organization, 21420 Pearl Street, Alva, Florida 33920. 

Page 5:  cross out “Fire District” in Article Two.  Cross out “Associations” in Article Three.

Page 6:  Article Four, first line:  “nineteen” instead of thirteen members.

Page 7:  Second paragraph:  The Board of Directors may elect such persons as honorary members of the Corporation as have, in its opinion, performed exceptional services to the Corporation.  Any voting member may place an item on the directors meeting agenda by submitting a written request to the President at least seven working days prior to the meeting.

Article Six: Capitalize “May” meeting. Next sentence: At the June meeting, the outgoing President will moderate until that vote….

Article Seven:  last line:  by “e-mail”

Page 8:  Article Nine:  Second paragraph, first line.  Any Officer or Director (instead of Governor)

Page 9:  Article Ten:  first line—chairmen.  Next line—The President of the Corporation

Article Eleven:  Robert’s Rules of Order

Page 10:  Under Mission Statement.  Third line:  monitoring growth to see that a proper land use plan is enacted and enforced.

5^th line:  sidewalks, bicycle paths, and horse trails with pleasant landscapes.

Page 13:  Land Use Policy:  2.  To utilize their properties.  3.  Cross out “better” on first line.

Add 9:  We want to encourage the preservation of established agricultural interests in Alva.